


In the Drift

by EventHorizons13



Series: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Characters [5]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Crossover, Drift Compatibility, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Gen, Jaeger Pilots, Jaegers (Pacific Rim), Language, Mentions of Cancer, Self-Doubt, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23658268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EventHorizons13/pseuds/EventHorizons13
Summary: A newcomer brings not only new parts of the Jaegers but a renewed hope of becoming a pilot for Carley.
Relationships: Negan (Walking Dead) & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Characters [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075559





	1. Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newcomer shows up. Carley doesn't think she has a shot at becoming a pilot anymore until the newcomer storms into her life.

Three years, three long years and I had yet to find anyone who I belonged in the drift with. It was difficult, watching all my friends being put in Jaegers, being able to combat the monsters that threatened to destroy our very existence when all I wanted to do was the same. I was a top recruit, a good soldier for the government. I stuck around, waiting. Thankfully, I was also pretty damn good with tools so I was able to find a small niche in repair and mechanics as I waited. There was some sense of purpose and accomplishment there at least. The pilots wouldn’t be able to do what they needed to do without the help of the ground crew. Still, it wasn’t in the thick of the action, it wasn’t the same as killing a Kaiju.

Government funding stopped coming before I was able to get my chance. A lot of people left after that, either going to work on the wall that was being built or back to whatever existence they could scrap together in this new found world. I stuck around, knowing that there was still a need for the program. Things were occasionally piece mealed together but we kept the fight going. Pilots faded in and out, recruits were fewer and fewer. Yet, those of us that remained dedicated redoubled our efforts, worked harder with less than we ever had before. We kept things running on a skeleton crew, with parts that should have been tossed long ago, and technology that was slowly aging day by day.

The sidelines was where I remained of course. They couldn’t have an inexperienced pilot manning one of the last Jaegers that they had. No, our hopes where places on the shoulders of men that knew what they were doing, knew their machines like the back of their hands. It stung but it was understandable. Not to mention, at this point, the likelihood of me finding someone who was drift compatible with me was slim to none.

I was sitting in front of the core of the blaster of the newer of our rigs, repairing some of the wiring and wielding where a Kaiju had managed to sink it’s teeth into. Jagged wounds had been left behind that were near impossible to repair. It was patch work unfortunately but it was the best that I could manage. Mask settled over my face, metal melted under the heat of my torch. I lost myself in the rhythm of the familiar motions. This was how most days went. Damaged parts would come in, we would piecemeal together some fix, and sent it back on its way. Nothing ever really changed in our day to day lives at this point.

Though it seemed that was about to change today. There was a large enough commotion going on outside the work zone that all of our attention was taken off the tasks at hand. Everyone flipped their helmets up, tools were set aside, and heads popped up from whatever hole or part they were in. Voices were loud, loud enough that they could be heard by those closest to the door apparently as an excited buzz began t move through the grouping that was on the clock. Setting my torch down, I shifted and swung my legs over the edge of the platform I had been kneeling on.

“Brady!” The man below looked up at me. “What’s all the commotion man?” I cocked my head to the side, curious as to what would light such a fire under our exhausted asses.

“Can’t tell yet,” He shook his head before pointing towards the door where I could just make out the appearance of Marshal Pentecost stepping foot onto the work floor. Oh this had to be something big. It wasn’t that he avoided the floor, he checked in maybe two to three times a week to make sure that we were making progress where we could and understand where we were lagging behind. But this wasn’t one of those days and it looked like he had a small group of people with him. Intriguing indeed.

Grabbing my water bottle, I took a few sips and kept my eyes on the group.

“What do you think they want? Coming to finally shut us down entirely?” I glanced down at the dark haired man below me who looked more concerned by the second. Probably more than what was warranted just yet.

“Nah. Look at the way he is standing,” I pointed out, motioned towards the head honcho. “That isn’t the body language of a man who is fighting to keep this program alive. They are here for something else.” I pulled my helmet off of my head and stood up to lower my rigging. I had to know what was going on if this was something good.

As Pentecost closed in, I was able to see the couple of men that he had with him. One was definitely a scientist of sorts. Sporting a mullet and looking a little more twitchy than anyone should be in this area, his eyes darted around but he was spouting things off if the movement of his lips was anything to go by. We all knew the types by now. Smart but horrifically socially awkward. These were the kind of guys that either helped us keep the machines running or researched the Kaiju.

The next man was nodding as he looked around. Older, observant, but a clear laid back attitude a bit as he was smirking. Or maybe the world was just some sort of private joke for him. There wasn’t a way to tell since he remained quiet for the time being. Not that it would matter, I couldn’t hear them yet anyway.The mustache he was sporting actually outdid the Marshals. An impressive feat really. He was quiet, his lips never moving as he just took everything in. I couldn’t tell what his role was just yet.

The final man was talking with Pentecost, the back and forth intense even from this distance. Tall with broad shoulders covered in a leather jacket, there was a fire to his movements. He looked more like the sort of man who worked on the black market than someone who should be conversing with a military man but this was the end of the world. I reserved judgement. He was animated for sure as he talked, using his hands and even from where I was, I could see a variety of changing facial expressions.

They didn’t get any closer so I wasn’t able to make anything else out until our attention was demanded.

“Listen up!” Well, if anyone wasn’t paying attention before, they were now. “We have a few new parts for our Jaegers coming in and we have a new pilot. There will be open try-outs to find a compatible partner for anyone who has gone through the training. They will be held tomorrow afternoon, fourteen hundred hours sharp. Back to it.” I glanced at Brady, shocked by the announcement.

“You have to give it a shot.”

“I don’t know man. Wasn’t able to find anyone before. I don’t think this will really be any different. I mean, maybe I just wasn’t meant to be a pilot you know?”

“Bullshit. You know these machines inside and out, I have seen you train. Go to the damn try out. The worst thing you can do is not get picked.” I hated the fact that he was right and that my mind was already made up. I was setting myself up for disappointment but that was all I had wanted from the moment the program had been announced. I wasn’t going to let this last chance slip through my fingers.

*******************************************

I had prepped as much as I could, trying to get my head in the right spot. I had been trained, I knew what to do. My conditioning physically was not something that I was worried about. Between my daily work and the regiment that I kept up with, I knew that I was still in top shape. It was the other aspects that I was more worried about.

There was a large line of individuals waiting for a shot at getting inside one of the machines we worked on rather than just repairing them. The excitement and nervousness was palpable in the air, practically jumping from person to person over them. I hung to the back, waiting and letting all of those that were overly eager to go ahead and get their asses handed to them ahead of me. It was easy to recognize those who wouldn’t be able to make it and those that had a chance. I didn’t want to watch anyone else though so I kept my head down and my mind focused. If someone got it ahead of me, then someone did. If they didn’t and I was given the shot, I wanted to make the absolute most of it.

“Hey doll. Why are you not paying any attention?” I frowned and looked up, getting a much better assessment of the man today at this close proximity than I did yesterday. He was handsome that was certain, black hair slicked back almost neatly with a strong jaw and an intensity to his hazel eyes that didn’t just signal he was taking this seriously. It permeated his entire being. Lankier than most pilots I had come across, I didn’t doubt the strength that was hidden in his frame. His stance spoke of confidence, borderline cocky. Maybe he had earned it, I didn’t know. I didn’t recognize him but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t a good pilot.

Hell, who knew how many people were good pilots and weren’t with such little interest given. With no funding, it wasn’t a surprise that interest had fallen off anyway. So, pilots were a rare commodity and valuable as much as the giant robots they were placed in.

“Rather keep my attention on myself than anyone else.” I responded with easily, holding his gaze. I wasn’t going to let my nerves show. Nor was I about to let him know that I hadn’t been able to find a partner since I joined the program. If I wanted to have a legitimate shot at this, I had to hold some sort of confidence and make sure that he didn’t doubt me off of the bat.He snorted and motioned towards the mat.

“Well, get the fuck up here and we will see if that had any fucking benefits.” I could feel the Marshal’s eyes on me as I stepped up to the mat. Everyone was assessing me, trying to decipher how I was going to do. There was judgement there, I knew among some of the men. Let them think what they wanted to.

We stood facing one another for several moments, his eyes moving over me, waiting to see if I would make the first move. I knew from experience that if I didn’t know my opponent, it was smarter to let them make the first move. At least in these sort of situations. It allowed a quick assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. He seemed to be waiting for the same. Only when we both stepped forward did the actual fight begin.

The movements were fluid as we traded blows back and forth, sending each other to our backs more than once before quickly recovering. Neither of us seemed to be able to get an edge over the other. My quickness cancelled out his strength but his thinking cancelled out my growing eagerness. The room fell silent around us though nothing but our movements were registering in my brain.

We came to a stalemate after what felt like a few short moments. Judging by the ragged heaving of our chests though as we drew in as much air as we could, it had been longer than that.

“Hot fucking damn doll. Where the fuck have you been hiding this entire fucking time?” I slowly lowered my staff and leaned against it just a bit. Did that mean what I thought it meant? Not that I could get my hopes up too high. I mean, the drift was where it was all going to be determined.

“Here, repairing Jaegers after they take on those bastards.” The smirk on his face grew wider.

“Oh I knew I was going to fucking like you. She’s it. Everyone else can fuck off.” Not language I expected from a but maybe he wasn’t military. “You never been a fucking pilot before?” I shook my head.

“Always wanted to be.” I admitted softly. “Never worked out. Stuck around to do what I could.”

“Well it turned out to be your fucking lucky day now didn’t it?” He looked towards the Marshal. “We should do this a hell of a lot sooner rather than later. Let’s get this shit set up and fucking moving. As for you,” He looked back at me again. “Name’s Negan doll. Fucking follow me. Let’s get you up to fucking speed with the team and the beautiful fucking toys we are bringing the fuck in.”


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carley learns if she really is drift compatible with Negan.

We ended up at the mess hall. I had a feeling that this was the quietest that he had ever been as he walked alongside me without a word. But he was watching me from the corner of his eye, I could feel it.

“What did you do before all this shit doll?” It was the first thing he said as we walked into the hall and eyes turned to watch. Word spread fast around here that was for sure. Shrugging, I kept in step alongside him easily.

“I had graduated college with a useless degree, couldn’t get a job in my field, and was in talks with a recruiter to enlist since it was the next best thing. I was swimming in debt and wanted to do something that meant something. Cliche as it sounds.Just so happened that this whole shit storm happened and I was bumped into the program with good grades.”

“So why the fuck weren’t you put in a machine?”

“Never found anyone that I could be in the drift with. Tried a few times before they just pushed me to the back of the line. Some higher up decided that they would keep me around to be an extra body until I proved that I was just as good with a torch as I was a recruit. I got put on the floor to keep what machines we had up and running. It wasn’t as good as being a pilot but it was better than nothing. And way better than spending time on that useless wall that those men in cushy chairs think will work to protect us.” He laughed at the comment.

“Guess that fucking works out in my fucking favor.” We arrived at the table where the two other men I had seen him arrive with sat. “Time for some introductions you fuckers."

The silent mustached man was the first to stand up and offer his hand.

"Simon. Nice to meet cha.” Reaching out, I shook the man’s hand with a nod.

“Carley.” The mullet wearing man glanced up but didn’t make eye contact with me and nodded.

“Eugene Porter. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance even under this rather dire circumstances.” I blinked at the way the man talked before giving him a nod as well. Even around here, that manner of speaking was a bit uncommon. Even with the scientists that we had working on the Kaiju.

“Same to you. But hey, end of the world shit. Can’t exactly have control over a hell of a lot.” He nodded and looked back down at the schematics he was looking at. As interested as I was in that moment, there were more important things to handle.

“Alright, now that the introductions are fucking finished, let’s get on to the new fucking toys we brought.” Right, I had nearly forgotten that he had mentioned that before.

“New new or like you rigged it up and we haven’t seen it before new."

"We’ve managed to bring together some gently used parts. So they are not brand new as you are asking but they are as close as we are going to get given the shut down of the majority of programs and the limited manufacturing power that is going to anything besides the wall.” Eugene was the one to answer me, still looking down at the paper in front of him.

“Well, almost new then. I’ll take anything over the beat up shit we have been forced to repair over and over again. It isn’t going to hold on much longer. Only so many fucking times I can weld over torn up pieces of metal before it just doesn’t hold anymore.”

“Ah doll you are gonna love what we brought along then. Come on, let me show ya.” He was excited, the sort of excitement that had been missing around here for a long time. It was confident, filled with a bit of hope. It settled the nerves and bolstered morale. That let’s go kick their ass mentality that had been lacking not only on the floor but in most of the pilots.

“Lead the way.” I grinned and felt a bit more of pep in my step. He chuckled and motioned for Eugene and Simon to follow us.

Back on the floor, I noticed that where the near destroyed Jaeger had been there was gone and in place of it by the workstation that I favored was a robot that looked like it had only seen a battle or two. I could have practically started to drool over it. It was only by the skin of my teeth that I was able to keep besides the man that was smirking knowingly.

“Ain’t she pretty?”

“She’s fucking gorgeous.” The machine was all but pristine next to the ones that we had been trying to keep functional. It was like getting to see a Jaeger for the very first time, back when the world was just beginning to go to shit. I looked towards him. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“She’s been in hiding for the past eight months. There were a few favors that I needed to call in but it was worth it. Only seen battle once, right before the program came to a close. I managed to get her stored away before she could get scraped. They wanted to use her for the wall. Of course as Eugene so kindly mentioned before, some of the parts have been added since. Gently used and all.” Unable to contain myself any longer, I moved forward to get a bit of a closer look. Before Negan could say anything else, Eugene started to talk, explaining the mechanics in terms that would likely be over a hell of a lot of people’s heads. Half of them were over mine but I understood enough to get what he was saying. I quickly shot some questions back at him and he replied without missing a beat minus a pause after the very first one. I glanced back at it to realize I had caught him a bit off guard. I could feel eyes on us. Negan and Simon watched without saying much more. Maybe people didn’t talk to the man like this. Then again, most people didn’t understand the machines that way that I did, or apparently that he did.

After a good fifteen minute discussion, I was pulled away from the other man by the clearing of a throat. Looking back a bit sheepishly, I shrugged and made my way back over to the other two men.

“Sorry, can get a bit carried away some times. This is the best thing to happen around here in a long time. It’s going to give a lot of people a lot of hope.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t a huge deal. Surely he had to realize just what it meant around here. I didn’t bring it up though, not wanting to cause any problems between us just yet. “When did you want to get the rest of this done?” Was I nervous about entering the drift with the man? Absolutely. Was I going to back down because of it? Not a chance.

“No better fucking time than now. Let’s get you fitted with a suit and we’ll give this a fucking go.” I could feel the tingle of nerves running down my spine as the reality of the situation hit me in the face. This was going to happen. Finally, after all the waiting, all the work, all the blood and sweat I was getting my chance.

In the Jaeger, fitted in my suit, I glanced around and let out a few deep breaths. There was a clash of old and new equipment surrounding me, things I recognized and things I didn’t. None of that was intimidating. I could handle that. The man next to me? Well that was a different sort of deal entirely.

“You still with me doll?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Gonna get a bit fucking ugly here for a few minutes. You focus on just keeping your head here alright?"

"Got it.”

“First time is always a motherfucker.” I snorted a bit, his language and attitude towards it all oddly relaxing me. “There is no readying yourself for it.” Great to know now right before they hooked us up.

“Thanks…” There was a sarcastic note to my voice.

“No need to be thanking me just yet doll.” Before anything else could be said, they locked us in.

The sensation was odd as all hell. There was no way to describe it. I was in my body but I wasn’t. I was conscious but I wasn’t. The closest thing that came to it was a near death sort of experience where every sense is almost hyper aware.

In another instant I was pulled away. My surroundings vanished, the awareness sucked away into nothingness. My entire life played before my eyes, good and bad alike. Of course I knew something like it was going to happen but that didn’t make it any easier to handle. Especially when things that were better off forgotten were pulled up. Like the death of my mother. It was overload though, it wasn’t like being able to push a bad memory away. I had dealt with plenty of those but it permeated my entire being, tricked my brain in a way that a normal memory never could. It felt real, it felt like I was right back there again. The shattering glass, the screeching tires, the bone breaks and bruises. Every horrific second of the experience replayed over and over.

Add on top of all of that the fact that I was simultaneously experiencing his memories. Just like he was experiencing mine. The negative he was forced to face was the death of his wife? That was what it felt like. In the blink fo an eye I knew it was right because I could almost see it through his eyes. He was sitting beside a hospital bed, clutching to a woman’s hand. His face was drawn and it was clear that he had been crying. At the same time, I was looking down at her, what was once a beautiful woman, sickness robbing her of strength and liveliness. The emotions hit me like a wave, stronger than my own. There was guilt thick enough to drown in marred with sorrow and regret. They were deeper than anything I had ever felt in my life. I tried to shake it off, the combination enough to want to bring me to my knees. It threatened to pull me down further, consume me entirely and ruin the first chance I had in the drift. Though that was a thought in the back of my mind, not something that I could really grasp onto consciously right then and there. Then I heard the voice speaking to me.

“It’s not real.” That was Negan. My brain was able to register that much. While it may not have been right then but it had been at one point in time. And the emotions certainly were real. My chest felt ready to cave in but as I forced a slow breath out, it began to fade. Bit by bit, slowly until they were nothing more than echoes around me. I was in the Jaegar, a grinning copilot in Negan beside me. While the light headed, heavy chested feeling remained, I was able to remain aware of my surroundings and the link that hooked up together with each other and the machine. Clearly he was pleased with the fact that I hadn’t crashed and burned in the drift.

“Everything looks good on our end. You are both stable and the link looks strong. Why don’t you test out some movements?” Simon’s voice echoed around us. The man had insisted on hanging around the command room with the Marshal to ensure all went well.

“What do you say? You ready to get this fucking show on the road?” Rolling my shoulders, I looked towards him and grinned.

“Couldn’t be more ready.”


End file.
